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Investing isn’t just for multi-millionaires, and one of the biggest mistakes you can make in real estate is to assume that it’s just for the big boys. Many of our clients in Dubai have portfolios and are international investors, but we also deal with smaller investors who are just starting on the property ladder.

One question we are frequently asked is: “How do I spend 500,000 AED? Can I still use this amount of money to invest in Dubai?”

The good news is that the answer is yes! Obviously, as times have changed and as Dubai has developed, 500,000 AED will get you less and less, but there are still opportunities so it’s worth reading on.

Firstly, you need to decide if you want to buy a fully finished property (this will be quite a small studio for the price mentioned) or an off-plan property which allows you to enter a payment plan agreement.

Here are your options of how to spend 500,000 AED in Dubai property:

1. Cheaper finished property
You can still get finished properties in Dubai for 500,000 AED or less but you’re going to have to move out of a popular area. However, Sports City has studios for less than that price (I bought one myself there recently), and if you move out of the main tourism hotspots by 20 minutes or so you will also find something suitable.

2. Off-plan property with payment plan

You could find an off-plan property for say 1million AED with a staggered payment plan attached. You would use your 500,000 AED as an initial downpayment and then pay the remaining balance over X number of years. The hope would be that your property would increase in value so that you could sell it and still make a profit if you were struggling to make the payment deadlines. There’s an obvious element of risk attached to this strategy but it’s certainly an option.

3. Finished property with payment plan

There are occasions when finished properties can be bought with a post-handover payment plan in place. This means that you can be making money renting out your property whilst still paying it off. You will need to wait a little longer for your return but how refreshing to know that your rental income is paying off your investment?